SOCHI, Russia - After taking a few practice runs down the halfpipe at the Sochi Olympics earlier this week, Hannah Teter had some concerns. To say the least. "I couldn't do any of my tricks," the American snowboarder said. "It was just the worst pipe I'd ever ridden in my life. " Then the crew at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park scrambled to make fixes, smoothing a lumpy bottom and using a mixture of salt and water to harden the walls. "A hundred million times...

You have to give it up for Joey Cheek because he gave it up for others. The gold-medal-winning speedskater in the 500 meters is donating the $25,000 bonus he earned from the U.S. Olympic Committee to Right To Play, a charity. Where Cheek was surprising people, the judges were giving the expected grades in pairs figure skating. Russians Totiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, by way of Chicago, easily took the gold in the first Olympic test of skating's new scoring system. The men's curling crew...

VANCOUVER — Torah Bright's Olympic Games preparation was not exactly ideal: two crashes, two concussions and a trip to the hospital in the span of a few days in January. The snowboarder was off the hill while her main competitors were throwing down dazzling runs in the pipe at the high-profile X Games in Aspen, Colo. What about those dreams of Olympic gold for the Australian? Most certainly … not so bright. "It wasn't the easiest month, I'll say that," Bright...

The Winter Olympics don't officially start until Feb. 12, but you can get a sneak preview this week thanks to Winter X Games 14. Several events at the X Games in Aspen, Colo., starting Thursday also will be featured in Vancouver's Olympics, and many of the athletes will do the Aspen-Vancouver double-dip. Here's a look at some of the athletes expected at both games. espn.com contributed Gretchen Bleiler She won three snowboard superpipe golds at the X Games and won silver at the 2006 Winter...

There are snow days and then there are snowboarding days. After all, ESPN's Winter X Games might as well be an officially sanctioned school holiday. Morning practice was finishing on Thursday at Buttermilk Mountain, and Olympian Gretchen Bleiler was taking off her board at the bottom of the pipe, chatting with Mike Jankowski, the U.S Olympic halfpipe coach. Jankowski spotted a group of elementary school youngsters -- kids about 8 or 9 years old given the day off from the classroom -- peeking...

What's the best way to spend the first day after a new snowfall in Alaska's pristine backcountry? If you answered, "Plunging headfirst from the peak of a very steep mountain with my feet strapped to a fiberglass plank," you're in luck. "First Descent," the feature debut from Kevin Harrison and Kemp Curley, is here, bringing with it all the excitement, adrenaline and idiocy that accompany world-class snowboarding. The movie provides a relatively clear-eyed glance back at the sport's early days, as well as a...

The Winter Olympics don't officially start until Feb. 12, but you can get a sneak preview this week thanks to Winter X Games 14. Several events at the X Games in Aspen, Colo., starting Thursday also will be featured in Vancouver's Olympics, and many of the athletes will do the Aspen-Vancouver double-dip. Here's a look at some of the athletes expected at both games. espn.com contributed Gretchen Bleiler She won three snowboard superpipe golds at the X Games and won silver at the 2006 Winter...

Hannah Teter is the daughter of former hippies. She was raised in a home at the end of a dirt road in Vermont, along with brothers Amen, Abe, Elijah and Josh. She is prone to saying things like "super-good" and "super-strong." She says the word "like" as if she were getting paid for it. "I came into the contest, like, super-fit," she said Monday. She is full of a kind of impervious joy. Before she won Olympic gold in the women's halfpipe Monday, she and fellow American snowboarder Gretchen...

Joey Cheek sounds like a 27-year-old former athlete whom schools like Princeton, Yale and Stanford thought would fit right into their high-powered student bodies. Hannah Teter sounds like a 19-year-old who matches the image of her sport, snowboarding, as a place for kids who would fit into the student body at Ridgemont High--even if they weren't even born when the 1982 movie that celebrated that lifestyle, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," became a cult hit. So it was...

There are snow days and then there are snowboarding days. After all, ESPN's Winter X Games might as well be an officially sanctioned school holiday. Morning practice was finishing on Thursday at Buttermilk Mountain, and Olympian Gretchen Bleiler was taking off her board at the bottom of the pipe, chatting with Mike Jankowski, the U.S Olympic halfpipe coach. Jankowski spotted a group of elementary school youngsters -- kids about 8 or 9 years old given the day off from the classroom -- peeking...

VANCOUVER — Torah Bright's Olympic Games preparation was not exactly ideal: two crashes, two concussions and a trip to the hospital in the span of a few days in January. The snowboarder was off the hill while her main competitors were throwing down dazzling runs in the pipe at the high-profile X Games in Aspen, Colo. What about those dreams of Olympic gold for the Australian? Most certainly … not so bright. "It wasn't the easiest month, I'll say that," Bright...

You have to give it up for Joey Cheek because he gave it up for others. The gold-medal-winning speedskater in the 500 meters is donating the $25,000 bonus he earned from the U.S. Olympic Committee to Right To Play, a charity. Where Cheek was surprising people, the judges were giving the expected grades in pairs figure skating. Russians Totiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin, by way of Chicago, easily took the gold in the first Olympic test of skating's new scoring system. The men's curling crew...

Joey Cheek sounds like a 27-year-old former athlete whom schools like Princeton, Yale and Stanford thought would fit right into their high-powered student bodies. Hannah Teter sounds like a 19-year-old who matches the image of her sport, snowboarding, as a place for kids who would fit into the student body at Ridgemont High--even if they weren't even born when the 1982 movie that celebrated that lifestyle, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," became a cult hit. So it was...

Hannah Teter is the daughter of former hippies. She was raised in a home at the end of a dirt road in Vermont, along with brothers Amen, Abe, Elijah and Josh. She is prone to saying things like "super-good" and "super-strong." She says the word "like" as if she were getting paid for it. "I came into the contest, like, super-fit," she said Monday. She is full of a kind of impervious joy. Before she won Olympic gold in the women's halfpipe Monday, she and fellow American snowboarder Gretchen...

SOCHI, Russia - After taking a few practice runs down the halfpipe at the Sochi Olympics earlier this week, Hannah Teter had some concerns. To say the least. "I couldn't do any of my tricks," the American snowboarder said. "It was just the worst pipe I'd ever ridden in my life. " Then the crew at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park scrambled to make fixes, smoothing a lumpy bottom and using a mixture of salt and water to harden the walls. "A hundred million times...

What's the best way to spend the first day after a new snowfall in Alaska's pristine backcountry? If you answered, "Plunging headfirst from the peak of a very steep mountain with my feet strapped to a fiberglass plank," you're in luck. "First Descent," the feature debut from Kevin Harrison and Kemp Curley, is here, bringing with it all the excitement, adrenaline and idiocy that accompany world-class snowboarding. The movie provides a relatively clear-eyed glance back at the sport's early days, as well as a...

When: Feb. 12. Best of the U.S.: Arielle Gold, Kelly Clark, Kaitlyn Farrington and Hannah Teter. Best of the rest: Defending Olympic champion Torah Bright of Australia. U.S. chances to medal: The ageless Clark, at 30, will be competing in her fourth Olympics. Gold has a decent shot to make headline writers very happy. Little-known fact: Chloe Kim, the best female snowboarder in the U.S. this season, is ineligible for the Olympics because she is too young.